The Ravens are just two games into their grueling 16-game regular season, and while they are still trying to figure out what their identity will be on offense, it’s becoming pretty clear what they hope that identity will be.

The Ravens have ran 158 offensive plays in their two games, not the most in the NFL but enough to get a respectful nod from Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly. Joe Flacco has attempted 95 passes, the most of any quarterback in the league entering tonight’s game. And by my count coordinator Jim Caldwell has used three-receiver sets on more than 55 percent of the plays, which is about 12 percent more than a season ago.

Some of those numbers are inflated because the Ravens fell behind by a few scores in their Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, but still, they came out throwing early and often against the Broncos and also yesterday in their 14-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens are putting their faith in the rocket right arm of their $120.6 million man despite injuries and inconsistent play at the wide receiver and tight end positions.

So far, the numbers have been big but the results inconsistent.

Against the Broncos, Flacco played well enough in the first half to keep the Ravens in the game with Peyton Manning. But a critical drop by tight end Dallas Clark before halftime probably took four points off the board, and after a string of untimely three-and-outs to start the second half, the Ravens fell behind and had to throw nearly every down to try and catch up. Flacco threw for 362 yards, but averaged just 5.8 yards per attempt, nearly half as much as Manning.

The offense was shut out in the first half against the Browns, but you can’t pin that on Flacco. He threw a pair of accurate deep passes that could have -- and probably should have -- been caught by his wide receivers for touchdowns and twice moved the Ravens into field-goal position.

In the second half, his wide receivers started to make plays for him. He completed 10 of his 12 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown after halftime and the Ravens were 7-for-9 on third down, a few of the conversions coming on passes in third-and-medium situations. Flacco finished the afternoon with 211 yards and a touchdown on 22-for-33 passing.

The offense’s personnel usage was also indicative of the pass-first trend. The Ravens used their 21 personnel -- two running backs, one tight end and two wide receivers -- often on the first three drives with some success, but for the second straight game they ended up using their 11 personnel -- one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers -- most.

By my count, the Ravens have used 11 personnel on 90 of their 158 offensive plays, including 30 plays against the Browns. Their second-most popular group is the 21 personnel, which they have used on 38 plays, including 27 against the Browns. They have used two tight ends at the same time on 28 plays, not including their goal-line heavy set.

Given the injury to starting wide receiver Jacoby Jones and the relative newness of Brandon Stokley and Marlon Brown to the offense, it seemed the Ravens might rely on the running game more with All-Pro fullback Vonta Leach, brought back after the injury to tight end Dennis Pitta, plowing running lanes for Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce with his facemask.

But the revolution has long been underway, and it doesn’t appear they plan on bringing it to a halt now, not after two games in which the running game was mostly non-existent. They won a Super Bowl by spreading defenses out, speeding up to the line of scrimmage and slinging the ball all over the field with Flacco. That’s what they hope their identity can be.

One thing that I learned

The pass rush might be even better than we first suspected. In the loss to the Broncos, the Ravens sacked Manning -- whose quick trigger finger makes him tougher to bring down than athletic freaks like Michael Vick and Colin Kaepernick -- three times and hit him a few other times. Against the Browns, the Ravens swarmed quarterback Brandon Weeden before he left the game with a thumb injury late in the fourth quarter. Defensive coordinator Dean Pees threw some clever blitzes at him, but the Ravens also were able to generate good pressure when they sent a standard four-man rush. They sacked Weeden five times and hit him seven other times, including a hard, legal hit by rush linebacker Terrell Suggs. On one blitz, which was a microcosm of the defense’s performance, four or five Ravens crashed through the offensive line and converged on Weeden, burying him in a half-ton pig pile. Inside linebackers Daryl Smith and Arthur Brown were credited with half sacks, but it could have been split between a few Ravens, including Elvis Dumervil and Haloti Ngata. The Ravens have eight sacks through two games, including two apiece for Suggs and Dumervil. At this rate, the Ravens could lead the NFL in sacks at season’s end.

Handing out game balls

This was a total team effort, with no players really producing eye-popping stat lines. But Suggs and Dumervil can split my defensive game ball because each of them had a sack and three quarterback hits. The offensive game ball goes to Torrey Smith, who had 85 yards on a career-high-tying seven catches, most of them coming underneath the coverage.

This week’s head-scratcher

With a little more than three minutes left and the Ravens leading, 14-6, Browns coach Rob Chudzinski made an aggressive decision that is probably a popular topic on Cleveland sports talk shows this morning. After three straight incompletions, the Browns were looking at 4th-and-10 at their 22-yard line. They were out of timeouts, but they still had enough time to punt the ball and get it back if their defense could come up with a three-and-out. Instead, they went for it, and backup quarterback Jason Campbell inexplicably flipped the ball underhand to tight end Jordan Cameron, who was well short of the sticks. The Ravens ran out the clock with a first down, so Chudzinski’s call became moot, but it was interesting nonetheless.

They said it (or tweeted it)

“Congratulations to Dana [Flacco]. She’s really getting the job done on her own out there. We appreciate that, Dana. Thank you, thank you. Daniel, congratulations to Daniel, He’s healthy and ready to roll.” -- Ravens coach John Harbaugh, when asked about Joe Flacco starting Sunday’s game about an hour after his second son, Daniel, was born in New Jersey.

The stat that stands out

85 -- yards allowed by the Ravens defense in the second half.

Three (thoughts) and out

1. It was interesting to see the Ravens substituted on defense so often. The Browns would send 10 guys out to the huddle and then send out a running back, wide receiver or tight end to make 11. That final skill player would determine what personnel group the Ravens were in, and they would sometimes respond by quickly swapping out two or three of their defenders before the snap. All of their active defensive linemen were rotated into the mix and there were third-down plays when Suggs was replaced by another pass rusher such as Pernell McPhee. They also used three safeties in some of the plays in their blitz packages. The Ravens have given Pees a lot of toys and it looks like he plans to tinker with all of them.

2. I had a strange dream last night in which Justin Tucker missed a pair of makeable field-goal attempts. No way that would happen, right? After all, Tucker missed just three kicks during his impressive rookie season and I can’t remember him missing two field-goal attempts from inside 50 yards the entirety of training camp. So yeah, the thought of Tucker missing from 50 and 44 yards? I must have eaten something funky before bed.

3. It was a mixed bag for Marlon Brown, but the undrafted rookie wide receiver continues to flash the ability to get open downfield. He let a would-be touchdown slip through his fingers in the first quarter, but he finished with four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown on six targets. The fourth-quarter touchdown, which put the game out of reach, was his second in two games. He is the first player in Ravens history to catch a touchdown pass in each of his first two games. I’m eager to see if Brown can keep this going or if he’s just a flash in the pan.